


An Ode to Napkins and Zoos

by EndangeredFandom



Series: Grammar Mistakes by the Millions (After Legacy AU with Quorra, Sam, and Tron) [2]
Category: Tron (Movies), Tron - All Media Types
Genre: AU (After Legacy), Animals, Family Dynamics, Friendship, Other, Shopping, Walmart, Zoo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-23
Updated: 2020-06-23
Packaged: 2021-03-03 18:42:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24870259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EndangeredFandom/pseuds/EndangeredFandom
Summary: Sam brings Quorra and Tron to Walmart and the Zoo
Relationships: Quorra & Tron, Sam Flynn & Quorra, Sam Flynn & Quorra & Tron, Sam Flynn/Tron
Series: Grammar Mistakes by the Millions (After Legacy AU with Quorra, Sam, and Tron) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1799518
Kudos: 17





	An Ode to Napkins and Zoos

**Author's Note:**

  * For [EnglishLanguage](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EnglishLanguage/gifts).



> Part of the Grammar Mistakes by the Millions series, have fun reading!~~ Endangered

Sam’s hand rustles through empty, plastic shells of paper towel bundles. He curses under his breath, he thought they had another roll or two left. Sam blames Quorra. She was always using them for crafts or to clean things such as spilled ketchup, splatters of paint, etc. Sam glances forlornly at the brown tude that is left on the kitchen counter. Had he known that the napkins were out, he would’ve bought more at Walmart yesterday. The cabinets click as Sam closes them. No paper towels in the house, plus hamburgers (loaded with plenty of ketchup by Quorra) was the same as saying, “Heads up, the mess coming up might be counted as a natural disaster.” 

“Hey Q?” Sam calls through the house, hoping that Quorra hasn’t snuck off to one of her excursions to find little bits and pieces of User trash.

The ISO has an incurable obsession to explore and an unquenchable curiosity. Observing every frog in sight (Heck she even has started cataloging and naming them in her many journals), picking up crushed Coke cans, and gently poking weeds and delicate plants. Whatever User’s will simply throw away are Quorra’s treasures. Beauty is the eye of the beholder, the saying has never felt this accurate to Sam until now. 

“Yeah?” Quorra responds, skidding into the kitchen. The ISO straightens her posture, shifting her weight from one foot to another. Sam chuckles at her anticipation, without even knowing what he is going to say. 

“We’re out of napkins again.” the User states, pulling out torn-up plastic wrapping as evidence. 

Quorra tilts her head, taking in the plastic with a large stretched out hole in the middle in which Sam must’ve pulled all the rolls out of. “Those are good napkins, unlike those flimsy ones you can get at restaurants. We need more.” Quorra states matter-of-factly, even though the aspect of getting more paper towels was not up for debate. 

Sam nods in agreement, tossing the plastic covering into the recycle bin. “We could go to Walmart today I guess. Maybe we could get more canned food or something. . .” The User trails off, looking into the ajar door of the pantry and seeing the stacks and stacks of canned food. Sam had always been very overprepared when it came to emergency supplies. Mostly because he has gone hungry several times in his life. In addition, canned food was easy to prepare for quick meals. 

“There’s a Walmart next to the zoo, you said you’d take me to it.” Quorra reminds him impatiently, heavily hinting a joint paper-towel-buying-zoo-visiting excursion. Her fingers drum at the wall, tapping out a fast-paced song, inventing it’s chaotic tune. Sam ruefully thinks that his life’s theme song could be that erratic, high-speed beat. 

Sam tosses the empty paper towel casing from hand to hand, laying out a rough schedule in his mind. “Yeah...I think that could work.” Quorra cheers, rushing over to Sam and thanking him. Really it was just a clever way to solidify the plan, backing out now would make Same feel bad. Sam chuckles ruefully, bending down to pat Marv on the hand before walking over to another room. 

“Hey Tron, Quorra and I are going to Walmart and the Zoo. Do you want to come?” Sam asks, drumming his hands on the doorframe to get the program’s attention. Tron tilts his head, looking at Sam. Sam didn’t mind going alone, but Tron knew the User would prefer if there was something else between him and Quorra seemingly never-ending energy. 

Tron nods, fluidly uprighting himself from a handstand. Sam grins, leading Tron outside where Quorra was waiting. After several minutes' journey, they made it to Walmart. The trio walked inside, Quorra instantly walking to every item that caught her interest and touching it. The ISO turned the objects around in her hands, feeling the different textures, testing their weights and sometimes criticizing them.

“This blanket has too many colors,” she says disdainfully, shaking her head. “It’s good to have colorful things, but they didn’t put it together well.” Occasionally she would hate things for no discernible reason.

“Hey Q, you like this pillow?” Sam asks, poking a fuzzy pillow he’s sure Quorra would obsess over.

She gives it a quick glance, almost immediately turning her attention back to the globe she holds in her hands. “No,” Sam grins wryly, lifting the pillow, flipping it and running his hand over the synthetic fur. 

“Can I buy this?” Quorra hefts up the globe propped on a metal base. Sam nods, chuckling. 

Tron sticks next to Sam, eyeing some things with visible confusion, sometimes testing a product out and questioning its purpose or use. 

“That,” Sam says, pointing to a candle Tron holds “is a scented candle. It produces light and it makes things smell good.” Sam reminds himself to bring more household User items into his house to increase Quorra and Tron’s familiarity with the objects. Tron put the object back, unimpressed. 

When the group finally managed to get to the paper towel section, it had been roughly an hour. Quorra immediately started inspecting the paper towels. She even ripped some of the plastic open on one to see it’s texture.

“Quorra, you can’t do that.” Sam exclaimed softly, carefully guiding her to a different section of the aisle. Guiltily, he looked around, making sure no employees saw. 

“Why not?” She asks, visibly confused. “Shouldn’t customers get to see the value of their product before blindly purchasing it?” Sam sighs, scratching the back of his neck. 

“That’s not how it works here, Q. You have to check the prices and the brand and...make a guess on which one will be the best.” The User explains carefully. For the second time that trip, Sam makes a mental note. Bring Quorra to the store more often. It takes an hour or two longer, but it teaches the ISO about the User world.

Quorra nods in understanding, getting to her own detective work. Tron makes little comment, calculating the best deals. “This one is the cheapest.” He says, nodding towards one brand.

Quorra nods enthusiastically, “I got the same results.” 

“Alright I’ll add it to the cart.” Sam pulls the napkins off of the shelf and places it into the plastic walmart cart. They eventually wheeled their way to the checkout line, docking it at checkout register five. Though their plan had been to only get napkins, they ended up with Quorra’s globe, pickles, several assorted chip bags, a small whiteboard for Q, and a shirt for Tron. The woman behind the register went through their items quickly, barely giving the group a second glance. The woman, her badge naming her Cheryl, seemed very bored of her job as cashier register. 

“Thank you Cheryl!” Quorra says graciously as they leave, earning her a sincere smile from the older woman.

“Zoo time, right Q?” Sam says, loading the groceries into the car that Alan lended him. Quorra nods, jumping into the back seat while Tron takes the passenger side of the vehicle. 

“Lightcycles are better.” He says casually, a faint grin on his face. Quorra snorts in laughter and Sam grins, pulling onto the road. “I don’t know Tron, cars are pretty nice. You get to sit down, they’re relaxing.” Same counters, just for the sake of arguing, lightcycles were brilliant. Personally Sam preferred motorcycles over cars anyway, and User motorcycles couldn’t compare to the sleek (and easily stored) vehicles of the Grid. 

Tron gives Sam a “yeah right” look, looking out of the window.

Quorra was right when she said the zoo was next to the walmart. Roughly two minutes later the car pulled into the parking lot, claiming an empty spot. Quorra jumped out of the car, practically dragging Tron and Sam over to the ticket booth. They got their passes, walking into the zoo. Quorra was extremely relieved to learn that the zoo was compiled exclusively of animals that were injured or couldn’t return to the wild. 

The first creature they found was a wolf, it gazed at the trio, looking proud and sure of itself. It seemed as if it thought that nothing could defeat it in a fight. Of course Tron could incapacitate the creature in seconds, but the program also seemed impressed by the creature.

Quorra suddenly laughs out loud, causing the wolf to flick its ear in irritation and pad off. “What’s so funny Q?”

“This sign says that the wolf is related to dogs, Marv is a dog but he’s so much weaker.” The ISO grins, laughing again. “There’s no comparison between Marv and the Wolf.” This prompts a laugh from Sam as he imagines Marv trying to annoy the wolf to death. Tron contemplates Quorra’s connection before commenting.

“Marv is definitely less suited to fighting, he has a different purpose. His is more beneficial towards Users.” Sam nods in agreement to Tron’s words. The trio wanders around, discovering more and more creatures. Tron personally admired the predators, their lithe forms and naturally built-in weapons and instincts. Quorra enjoyed the birds, their pretty colors, flying abilities, and intelligence. 

“Parrots are colored better than many blankets at Walmart.” Quorra acknowledged, inspecting a blue-yellow bird. 

Sam personally preferred the funny animals, he liked looking at them and imagining their purpose. His personal favorite being the water deer. They were like normal deer, except they sported two sharp fangs that poked out of their mouths. 

The sun melted into the horizon, casting glowing orange rays across the sky which faded from brilliant orange and yellow to a washed out blue that darkened into dark, dreaming purple. Tron gives Quorra a piggyback to the car, crouching down so she can slide off, clambering into the car. Sam turned on the car, driving towards the house, the sky flaming before being put out slowly by the night.

  
  



End file.
